This invention relates to a naturally appearing artificial foliage assembly comprising limbs, branches, stems and leaves. The foliar elements disclosed herein represent certain improvements over those of the arborescent concealment artifice previously disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,471 issued to D. B. Pitman, the present inventor.
Pitman assembles artificial foliar components such as limbs, branches, stems and leaves by means of a unitarily molded plastic encasement or sheath. According to Pitman, his components have discrete reinforcing wire core portions which are joined by molding his plastic sheath thereabout. Pitman envisions a life-like foliar structure which a user can draw in about himself by plastically bending the skeletal wire framework carrying his foliar components. To facilitate ready bending of the framework for concealment and for reverse bending to a restored condition, Pitman suggests these characteristics and properties for a suitable skeletal wire framework: “The diameter and length of a particular wire segment depends on which woody part of the foliage will contain that wire segment. For example, the longer, stiffer limbs have encapsulated therein the longest and heaviest wire segments while the wire forming the flexible leaf stems are relatively short and lightweight. All of the skeletal wire segments comprise a malleable mild steel which, when covered with the aforesaid flexible sheath, afford the woody parts of the foliage structure a semi-rigged nature and a degree of life-like flexibility. It is important that the skeletal wire core be plastically deformable, i.e. bendable at the location desired and to a degree desired by no more than moderate manual force. It should be understood that the wire cores molded in all parts of the foliar structure must provide sufficient strength to prevent these parts from slumping under their own weight or from bending or breaking in windy conditions . . . . The longer, stiffer links may contain wire cores up to six feet or more in length and three sixteenths of an inch in diameter while the wire diameters of the shorter, more pliable branches and stems are much less.”
That Pitman positively requires that the core wires of all parts of his foliar structure be deformable by manual bending is clear from his specification which recites, inter alia, “After the limbs are secured to a support, such as a tree trunk . . . , the plastically deformable limbs, branches and leaf stems are bent by the user to accomplish his obscuration. Should the user choose to position himself in front of the structure, the limbs can be bent forwardly and then inwardly to enclose the user entirely within the artificial foliage of the surrounding structure. Thereafter, the user may bend individual branches and leaf stems to enhance the illusion of a naturally foliaged tree or bush having as desired size, array, opacity and coloration . . . . By shaping easily bendable branches, branchlets and leaves, an observation or shooting port of a desirable size and shape can be fashioned as needed and later closed if desired. The density of the simulated foliage, hence its opacity, need not be uniform but can be increased or decreased by bending and layering or overlapping the branches and leaves in selected areas of the overall array.”
Pitman's concealment structure is well suited to achieve the objectives recited in his patent and has enjoyed considerable commercial success; however, first hand field experience has demonstrated a need to reduce dramatically the time and effort expended by a user in erecting and adjusting the structure prior to use.
Initially, one or more main supporting limbs, along with its appended branches, stems and leaves, are bunched together to permit their being fitted inside boxes or bags in which they are initially sold. Likewise, after the structure has been employed in the field, the stems and leaves previously arrayed by the user are manually gathered and forcibly collapsed into an elongated bundle for easier transportation and storage. Such compaction of the relatively inelastic wire cores of the stem and leaf portions of the wire framework causes them to take on a set condition which will not likely meet the user's needs upon subsequent redeployment of the structure. Therefore, time-consuming and tedious manual straightening and/or rebending of stem and leaf portions of the structure can be expected. Alleviation of this drawback displayed by the Pitman structure is the principal objective of the present invention.
While the inventor is aware of the several prior art patents which are somewhat related to the present invention in that each discloses an artificial foliage assembly having an encased metallic core, none recognizes the same problem and none suggests a solution for this problem. In this regard, please refer to U.S. Pat. No. 1,150,027 issued Aug. 17, 1915 to Gates; U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,163 issued Jul. 29, 1980 to Lee; U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,565 issued Jun. 22, 1993 to Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,884 issued Jun. 14, 1994 to Tai et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,664 issued Mar. 7, 1995 to Thompson; and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,645 issued Jun. 2, 1998 to Li.